Best book bets for hibernation season

Our latest book reviews:

• Elihu Washburne: The Diary and Letters of America’s Minister To France During the Siege and Commune of Paris, by Michael Hill, review by Peter Shawn Taylor

• Tenth of December: Stories, by George Saunders, review by Dafna Izenberg

• The Kingdom of Rarities, by Eric Dinerstein, review by Brian Bethune

• The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations, by Ian Morris, review by Brian Bethune

• Martin Amis: The Biography, by Richard Bradford, review by Mike Doherty

• But Now I See: My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold, by Steven Holcomb, review by Jonathon Gatehouse

Plus, an excerpt from Carol Bishop-Gwyn’s biography of the National Ballet of Canada’s founder Celia Franca, the first in our five-part series with The Charles Taylor Prize nominees:

• Celia Franca: Always on her toes, by Brian Bethune